New Delhi, Dec 14
Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday urged modern civil servants to be tech savvy and act as facilitators of change, transcending traditional administrative boundaries.
Speaking at the 50th Foundation Day of the Indian Posts and Telecommunications Accounts and Finance Service (IP&TAFS) in the national capital, Vice President Dhankhar outlined the importance of cross-departmental collaboration in an interconnected world, with the need to adopt artificial intelligence-powered audit systems while maintaining human oversight for critical decisions.
At the event, Union Minister of Communications and Development of North Eastern Region, Jyotiraditya Scindia, spoke about the three pillars: bringing stability to telecom sector; empowerment of pensioners and the capabilities of the cadre in keeping up with tech developments, behind the success of the officers.
The minister lauded them for their contribution in Department of Telecommunications' (DoT) SAMPANN pension model, streamlining pension disbursement for over 5 lakh pensioners, and for the consolidation of Digital Bharat Nidhi (DBN).
Scindia said the department's mission and principles of inclusivity, innovation and security is the kavach that we will hold for every citizen of Bharat.
Since its establishment in 1974, the IP&TAFS has been at the forefront of India's telecommunications and postal financial landscape. The service has been pivotal in managing spectrum auctions, generating revenue in the form of License Fees and Spectrum Usage Charges, which contribute nearly Rs 25,000 crore annually to the Government of India.
The service has also been instrumental in overseeing the financial health of over 3,500 telecom and internet companies.
A substantial portion of this revenue goes toward supporting the government's Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) through the Digital Bharat Nidhi, aimed at enhancing digital inclusion across India's urban and rural regions.
The SARAS portal, an initiative by IP&TAFS, has transformed the process of revenue assurance, digitalizing and standardizing the assessment mechanisms, thus ensuring better accountability in the largest non-tax revenue to the government.